Recalling Papal visit 2015: Pope’s warning vs. contraception

Raul Nidoy, a Doctor in Theology and Director for Formation of the Parents for Education Foundation (PAREF)

PASIG City, Jan. 15, 2016 – Amidst the alarm and anger of
Reproductive Health (RH) Law advocates over the scrapping from the 2016
budget of a Php 1-billion allocation for family planning commodities, an
educator renewed the warning on the adverse effects of contraceptives
not only on people’s physical health but on the very integrity of
society’s most basic unit.

“Why can contraception destroy the family? Because the family, by its
very internal workings, was envisioned by God to teach as the ‘most
important subject you have to learn in life: to learn how to love’.

This is what Raul Nidoy, a Doctor in Theology and Director
for Formation of the Parents for Education Foundation (PAREF), said as
he recalled Pope Francis’ encounter with the youth as the nation
commemorates the papal visit to the Philippines last year.

“While expressing an embrace of total self-giving, contraception willfully withholds fertility,” he added.In his experience of over three decades of family education, Nidoy
saw how contraception, which poisons love at its source, foments a
mentality of selfishness based on falsehoods.

Contraception lowers moral standards

In the words of Blessed Paul VI, contraception “could open wide the
way for marital infidelity and a general lowering of moral standards…
and reduce [woman] to being a mere instrument for the satisfaction of
[man’s] own desires,” Nidoy said.

“This famous prophecy of Paul VI is now clear to everyone.
Pornography can be found at the click of a mouse. Adultery is publicly
promoted. To cite a study, the University of Pennsylvania found that,
due to contraception, three out of four women in the United States now
engage in premarital sex,” he related.

Truly responsible parenthood

“True responsible parenthood means, on one hand, avoiding breeding
like animals—thoughtlessly—and, on the other, begetting more children
thoughtfully to express generous love,” explained Nidoy.

“Unlike natural family planning, contraception is anti-procreative.
It willfully goes against procreation, that glorious cooperation with
God to give the most sublime gift of love to the spouse: the gift of a
new immortal, a child of God,” he elaborated.

Filipino families: country’s greatest treasure

The educator saw how the Pope appreciated the great beauty of a large
family as he recalled him saying in Rome just before he came to the
Philippines, “The sons and daughters of large families are more inclined
to fraternal communion from early childhood. In a world that is
frequently marred by selfishness, a large family is a school of
solidarity and sharing.”

“The Pope called Filipino families the ‘country’s greatest
treasure’,” Nidoy said, “and he asked us to ‘nourish them always by
prayer and the grace of the sacraments’.”Pope came with mercy and compassion

On the issue on the family and contraception, Nidoy clarified that
the Pope came not with condemnation but with mercy and compassion: “Like
the Good Shepherd imaged on his pectoral cross, he came to embrace the
lost sheep. But like any true shepherd he wanted, with courage, to
protect God’s sheep from ravenous wolves.”

In this context, Nidoy recalled from his years of pro-life and
pro-family advocacy a former executive of the Commission on Population:
“When this official found out that the contraception programs were
spectacularly depriving families of the emotional and economic benefits
of children, he turned around and became an ardent pro-lifer.” (Fr. Mickey Cardenas / CBCP News)